The first main water pier of the Jinhai Avenue Bridge was topped off on Nov 16, and other girders are being readied to soon follow suit.

Pier 25, 40.5 m (44 yd) tall and 4 m (4.4 yd) wide, entailed installation of 98 tons of steel bars and 2,100 cubic meters of concrete poured over seven periods. Incidentally, the first bored cast-in-place pile for Pier 26 of the highway-railway bridge was completed last August.

In total, the Jinhai Avenue Bridge will have 19 water piers, of which eight are main. Currently, construction is underway on 13 water piers.

Pier 25 [Photo by Zhong Fan & Meng Qinghu to Zhuhai Daily]

The first combined highway-railway line above waters of the Pearl River Delta estuary, it starts at Hengqin Erjing Bay (tunnel on West Ring Road), and then runs westward to diverge from the MRT rail line before terminating at Zizhu Bay on East Airport Road.

The designated speed is 100 kmph (62 mph) for the dual six-lane highway and 160 kmph (99.5 mph) for the double-track railway. Adopting four pylons and double cable planes, the anti-jolt design is noted for allowing for stable train travel.

Integrated into the Zhuhai Airport Urban Rail Transit Phase II plan, the avenue bridge will later connect Zhuhai (Jinwan) Airport with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and is seen as a key artery for the East and West wings of Zhuhai and Hengqin's most important outbound transit hub.